The Top Ten Key Figures Behind the Ethereum Merge
Let us get to know these "behind-the-scenes heroes."Original Title: "The Merge: 10 key people behind Ethereum's biggest upgrade yet"
Authors: Kristin Majcher & Kari McMahon, The Block
Translation by: Moni, Odaily Planet Daily
As one of the biggest events in the recent crypto industry, Ethereum's "Merge" has garnered significant attention. In fact, developers and contributors from the Ethereum community around the world have been working towards the "Merge" for years. Data shows that at least 119 core Ethereum developers and thousands of programmers are dedicated to the "Merge" work, but 10 of them have played an indispensable role in the process. Let's take a look at these "behind-the-scenes heroes."
1. Aidan Hyman, CEO and Co-founder of Chainsafe
Who is he? Aidan Hyman is the CEO and co-founder of blockchain development company Chainsafe, which is dedicated to building various cross-chain projects, such as the consensus client Lodestar that implements Ethereum's proof-of-stake algorithm, which plays a key role in the Ethereum Merge.
What did he do? Lodestar aims to enable individual users to self-host a staking validator and verify blockchain data, helping to eliminate reliance on centralized network validation service providers. The project is open-source and written in the popular programming language Typescript, making it accessible to the developer community. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin provided the first funding to ChainSafe for the development of Lodestar in 2018. Several members within ChainSafe also participated in the launch of the Goerli testnet, which is a core testing platform before the launch of the Ethereum mainnet.
Where to find Aidan Hyman? LinkedIn, ChainSafe, Github
2. Danny Ryan, Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation
Who is he? Danny Ryan is a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting Ethereum and its related technologies. Danny Ryan is also the chief coordinator for Ethereum upgrades and frequently writes for the Ethereum Foundation blog, providing updates on the "Merge" and Ethereum's development roadmap.
What did he do? According to a previous interview with a16z Future, Danny Ryan began participating in Ethereum's proof-of-stake upgrade work as early as 2017. He describes his role at the Ethereum Foundation as helping to facilitate dialogue to determine the timelines and priorities related to Ethereum's scalability, security, and sustainability upgrade work, while also helping to develop review recommendations for Ethereum research and development.
Where to find Danny Ryan: Twitter, Ethereum Foundation Website
3. Paul Hauner, Co-founder of Sigma Prime
Who is he? Paul Hauner is the co-founder of information security consulting company Sigma Prime and founded the Lighthouse project, another proof-of-stake consensus client for Ethereum. Since 2018, the Lighthouse project has received funding from the Ethereum Foundation, infrastructure company ConsenSys, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
What did he do? Lighthouse is an Ethereum consensus client used to implement the proof-of-stake algorithm with high speed and security. Sigma Prime is responsible for maintaining the client, helping individual users download the client and become validators on the Ethereum consensus layer. According to the Lighthouse website, the Lighthouse team is also actively involved in the development of Ethereum proof-of-stake consensus specifications and security analysis.
Where to find Paul Hauner: Github, Lighthouse Official Website, Twitter
4. Justin Drake, Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation
Who is he? Justin Drake is a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, having joined in 2017 after founding a startup called Duo Money. Justin Drake first entered the crypto space in 2013 when he founded the Cambridge Bitcoin Meetup group and has recently gained public attention for his views on staking rewards post-Merge.
What did he do? In an interview with CryptoStaker, Justin Drake described his role at the Ethereum Foundation as "responsible for dialogue with insiders and the public community, keeping minutes of the latest developments," while also being responsible for technical coordination and research work at the Ethereum Foundation.
Where to find Justin Drake: Twitter, Ethereum Foundation Website, LinkedIn
5. Pooja Ranjan, Head of Ethereum Cat Herders
Who is she? Pooja Ranjan is the head of Ethereum Cat Herders, who previously founded the Ethereum news site EtherWorld and worked as a senior software engineer at Accenture.
What did she do? Ethereum Cat Herders describes themselves as a group that "supports Ethereum's core developers through project management and other forms of communication and coordination." They are also responsible for organizing educational videos about Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) or design documents related to the "Merge" and other Ethereum topics.
Where to find Pooja Ranjan: LinkedIn, Medium, Twitter, GitHub
6. Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum
Who is he? Russian-Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin is undoubtedly the most prominent co-founder of Ethereum. He co-founded the Bitcoin magazine "Bitcoin Magazine" in 2011 and later published the Ethereum white paper in 2014.
What did he do? Although Vitalik Buterin is no longer a core Ethereum developer, he has played a significant role in communicating the shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake since the design concept of the new consensus mechanism was introduced in 2016, such as attending discussions on Ethereum's roadmap and sharing technical articles, as well as expressing views on a wide range of crypto topics. In December 2021, Vitalik Buterin stated in a talk in Buenos Aires, "I think it is very important for Ethereum to transition to proof-of-stake for environmental and efficiency reasons, and it is also an opportunity to make the protocol better, confirm transactions faster, make the network more efficient, and increase support for light clients—but there is a long list of work to be done."
Where to find Vitalik Buterin: Personal Website, Twitter, GitHub
7. Tim Beiko, Head of Protocol Support at the Ethereum Foundation
Who is he? Tim Beiko is a core developer of the Ethereum blockchain, having joined the Ethereum Foundation in 2021 after transitioning from a product manager position at ConsenSys.
What did he do? Tim Beiko is responsible for holding a core developer meeting every two weeks, which serves as the glue that brings the Ethereum developer community together, focusing on discussions regarding network upgrades and improvements, including the numerous updates needed to prepare for the switch to proof-of-stake.
Tim Beiko was one of the first to disclose that the "Merge" would take place in mid-September, and he also played a significant role in launching Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559 (EIP-1559), which was part of the London upgrade and introduced a new burning mechanism to the Ethereum protocol.
Where to find Tim Beiko: Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn
8. Preston Van Loon, Co-founder of Prysmatic Labs
Who is he? Preston Van Loon co-founded the Ethereum infrastructure company Prysmatic Labs in 2018 with Raul Jordan, having previously worked at Google.
What did he do? Preston Van Loon's company has been dedicated to developing the Prysm client, which is currently one of the most popular clients supporting the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Prysmatic began focusing on sharding scaling solutions, which will be a highly anticipated upgrade for Ethereum after the "Merge."
The process of transitioning from proof-of-work consensus took Ethereum developers years, clearly much longer than expected, but Preston Van Loon explained that Prysmatic has been working hard to get things right. "At Prysmatic Labs, we were among the first to get involved, and I think the entire codebase has been rewritten at least three times."
Where to find Preston Van Loon: Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn
9. Ben Edgington, Product Lead at ConsenSys Teku
Who is he? Ben Edgington is the founder and product lead of the open-source consensus client Teku.
What did he do? Ben Edgington decided to focus his efforts on Ethereum scaling and proof-of-stake as early as the beginning of 2018. That same year, he began developing the Teku consensus client. Ben Edgington has stated that when he learned about the transition to proof-of-stake, he "really became fascinated" with Ethereum, as he was concerned that proof-of-work would have a negative impact on the environment.
Ben Edgington wrote in a blog post, "Six years ago, I had no idea we would take so long to deliver proof-of-stake; this journey has been longer and harder than anyone imagined. But the Merge is finally here."
Where to find Ben Edgington: Personal Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Twitter
10. Mikhail Kalinin, Chief Researcher at ConsenSys R&D
Who is he? Mikhail Kalinin is currently the chief researcher at ConsenSys and one of the longest-serving developers working on Ethereum, having started working on Ethereum clients as early as 2015.
What did he do? Mikhail Kalinin has made significant contributions to several key technical steps in achieving Ethereum's "Merge," including the release of the executable beacon chain proposal. Tim Beiko referred to Danny Ryan and Mikhail Kalinin as the two most critical figures in the Merge on social media, stating, "They really built and drove this ship."
